Tuesday, June 11, 2019

Blind Item #3 - Reader Blind Item

People love to hate on this band, although they must be doing something right, as they've been widely successful for over 2 decades now. We were working their third album when a call came in from the lead singer. A scathing article about them had just been published by a top rock critic. Our front man was completely gutted. Did America really hate them? I tried to explain how we build you up to tear you down, and that nobody listens to rock critics anyway. I spent about 20 minutes trying to cheer him up. I hope I helped a bit. Like I said, people love to hate them, but they were never anything but kind, charming, and professional when I worked with them, if a little self deprecating. They even made it a point to meet everyone at the label when they came in. I worked with "baby" bands who were total assholes, so I'll always have a soft spot for them.

67 comments:

Flashy Vic said...

Nickelback?

Joseph P Blow, Kokomo PD said...

Weezer

Flashy Vic said...

I always got the impression they were pretty decent guys, whether you liked their music or not. I don't see what the fuss is about either way.Yes I've heard better but also heard far far worse.

SCORPIO19D said...

Cold Play

Unknown said...

+1 Definitely Nickelback

lucyinthesky said...

Nickelback, can't think of any other band that has been as much of a punchline and on the receiving end of so much hatred.

JT0130 said...

nickleback totally... active since 1995, Canadian.

carolinalily said...

Definitely Nickelback. I have never understood the hatred that people have towards them. I have always liked their music, personally.

Brayson87 said...

The way the blind is written it sounds like a foreign band. The front man is wondering if America really hates them, the reader is explaining how they build people up to tear them down but nobody listens to rock critics anyway. Sounds like stuff American musicians would already know.

Joseph P Blow, Kokomo PD said...

Agreed. +1 to Flashy

idiotslayer said...

Maybe it's BECAUSE they're nice. Some people are that sick they have to torment nice people.

Brayson87 said...

The timeline works for Nickelback and they're still together.

Lexy1984 said...

It's Nickelback, they are Canadian. I like their music!

Flashy Vic said...

That sort of stuff isn't just an American trait though, Brayzey, it's universal. And everyone despises rock critics. Musicians, readers, my dog Dino, everyone.

Brayson87 said...

I think what people mainly hated about Nickelback was how overplayed they were on the radio, they had some good songs but it's tough after the thousandth time listening, not their fault.

Count Jerkula said...

No one respects canuckistanis. How can you respect people who couldn't get rid of the French and accept not having free speech?

Brayson87 said...

@Flashy, Well rock critics are like professors, they couldn't be successful in their field out in the real world so they fell into that instead.

And there was a lot of hate for Nickelback back in the day, Milli Vanilli had an easier time. It was like the "cool" thing to do, making fun of Nickelback. Meanwhile other bands were raping tweens in tour buses.

Brayson87 said...

@Count, I always heard the French hate Quebec, like it's some ugly bastard France had with a slumpbuster.

Brayson87 said...

Their words, not mine.

Rosie riveter said...

Omg we have a client that loves nickleback and brings a CD to listen to on days he goes out. He sings to every word, window down and loud. So finally I just rolled up the window and told him we're most def gonna get our asses kicked and he needs to choose another

Count Jerkula said...

Even the Haitians got rid of the French, armed only w/ machetes & shovels.

Flashy Vic said...

@ Count.
And quite possibly some soap. That usually does the trick.

HushHush said...

They shot most of their video's in Vancouver, and all the crew think that they are the nicest guys. They could have gone anywhere in the world, but they filmed in their hometown. Everyone jokes about their music, it's a punchline, but they'd work with them anytime. Mind you the music video era seems to be fading, other than live concert shoots. Or small gigs.

@Count & @Brayson, Quebecer's are like American's to the French, as American's are to the British. When New France was lost, Quebec stopped caring about France, and Europe. They were forced into fighting both wars for Canada, to save France. So it goes both ways. Now the French are the largest immigrant group coming into Quebec. So much for France.

Count Jerkula said...

Hushhush: they are fleeing the EU's immigration policies.

Chaos said...

Before they were big, a friend of mine went to a Nickelback show at some bar in Alberta, they all partied afterwards and the band ditched my buddy with a huge bar tab. Sure they were struggling musicians at the time, but it's still a douchey thing to do.

Their music sucks too!

Brayson87 said...

@HushHush, Well the French national motto is Surrender or Runaway, so that makes sense. Poor Quebec! I wonder if the French are claiming refugee status as they're no longer safe on their city streets.

@Count, I expect a similar rush from the UK to the US.

Jen said...

Am I the only one who never understood why people hated Nickelback? I liked their music.

Count Jerkula said...

Brayson: how many more talk shows do we need? I think i am up to my fill of foreigners w/ talk shows telling us what is wrong with the US.

Pepperoni10010 said...

I put my hand up. I love their music. (Nickelback)

longtimereader said...

Of course they are nice people, all musician's who make sucky music tend to be. It's the assholes who have the talent with few exceptions. Coldplay on the other had suck donkey balls and are assholes too.

Freckles said...

Their music is blah blah bland but then I grew up with Zepplin, Bowie, the Doors, Janis, etc

Tricia13 said...

Word.

Dirty Pearl said...

Hootle and the Blowfish? There was an article in The New York Times this weekend about them with a similar tone

Vita said...

Agree, Nickleback. While I never bought their music, I never got why they became the universal punching bags of music. They were completely benign. Someone like Fred Durst bugged me way more.

Vita said...

Thanks, Reader, for contributing a great blind! I love the insider perspective! Happy you were there to give the guy some solid comfort when he was undeservedly bummed.

JT0130 said...

I agree with @Brayson87 - Nickelback are not awful people like some musicians but their music got overplayed to the point of dislike and outright hatred. I don't agree with the hate since the band seemed to stay humble through their fame. There are far worse musicians that get overplayed and turn into total entitled assholes that deserve the hate more than Nickleback. I think americans are fine with an artist enjoying their fame and fortune as long as they are humble and stay true to their roots. Pretty harsh to say americans build people up to tear them down. We all strive for the american dream right, whatever that dream may be.

Lo Key says stop with the censorship already! said...

Gonna +1 Nickelback, but I've heard Chad Kroeger (sp?) is a douchecanoe.

Thorne said...

I remember reading years ago the singer is some sort of business genius who will have them all retiring wealthy. The music isn't for me, but I'm definitely not mad at Nickelback. Especially since they're such good sports about all of us uniting in dislike for the music in these fractured and trying times.

Flashy Vic said...

@Count.

Fuck off, you were stupid enough to let the useless bastards in, you can keep them! Anyway sea levels have dropped as the land has risen since Corden buggered off.

Count Jerkula said...

I didnt let em in. I am tired of us taking immigrants from shithole countries like England and Canuckistan and China. I'd take Mexicans and Turks 3 to 1 over people from those dumps.

Substance D said...

Haitians always remember the mosquitoes in their nightly prayers. Along with the machetes, malaria gave a big assist to help bleed out the Frogs.

Guesser said...

@Chaos,thanks for keeping me from feeling sorry for Nickelback. Besides,they are still successful because they are the band people love to hate.

VikingSong said...

Britain has thousands of years of history, heritage and culture. Your country doesn't, Jerkula. You should thank the Brits for free speech and your Bill of Rights seeing as it was based on the much older Magna Carta..

As for Nickelback. I never understood the hatred for them? I can't abide cunty people who screach hatred towards singers/bands just because their music isn't to their taste.

shakey said...

Nickelback's music is all the same to me. There's another Canadian group popular right now called The Sheepdogs. I feel the same way about them. Very bleh.

Count, Quebecers *hate* the French (ironic since they're most of our ancestors). French language has evolved since the discovery of Quebec's existence, but the French language in Quebec is about 350 years behind. I think that *may* have something to do with it, but they also think the French are snooty.

Then again, Quebecers seem to hate everyone. They can be rather racist.

riffer73 said...

The Nickleback hatred was created by the Canadian musical elite who were jealous of their success. It spread from there.

I might have a few of their songs on my party playlist.

Robyn said...

100% read this as Coldplay. A friend met some of the band at an art show and she said they could not have been nicer.

Count Jerkula said...

100s of years of cousin fucking royals and oppression. Having the biggest empire on the planet and letting it fall apart. Needing to be bailed out of 2 wars. Being gifted the Middle East as spoils of WW2 and completely botching it (though not as bad as the French botched South East Asia). Also the whole EU/Brexit fiasco. "Here, take our sovereignty. No wait we want it back."

Great Britian is basically AOL.

Brayson87 said...

Britain's just waiting for the next invasion.

Well at least Great Britain made a lot of friends around the world, right?

Count Jerkula said...

They even did a shit job of poisoning China w/ opium.

Orville said...

Definitely Nickleback they are very popular in Canada. The media up here can hate all they want they are super rich. The Canadian media are cruel but Canadian people love the band. I like Nickleback a lot.

Flashy Vic said...

Still not taking Porky Corden or that smug four eyed cocksucker Oliver back, Count, no matter how much you rail against us.

Lucky13 said...

As a rock and metal guy, I can attest that despite Nickelback seeming like very nice people, their music is just the blandest radio-rock I've ever had the misfortune of hearing.

Nothing wrong with that, sometimes you need bands like that to appeal to the masses and let them discover better bands with better music.

OKay said...

@Lucky Any music that makes me want to sing and/or dance along is good music. Full stop. Music isn't "good" only because it has your stamp of approval. Nickelback makes good music that the masses like. Think about that. The ability to create something that MILLIONS of people, most with nothing else in common, enjoy. They're talented. Fuck you.

AND they are not from Vancouver @HushHush. They're from Hanna Alberta.

peawry said...

The intentional I hope history errors have me laughing like crazy. Haiti got rid of French? hahahahahahahaha!!!! The Canada comments about Quebec and France lol. You should all come to Montréal. Amazing city. Not much Nickelback.

Sekrit said...

I was thinking Nickelback until the nice comments. Chad and his gaudy yellow lambo, thinking he is holier-than-thou and above everyone.
I would like to this that he's a nicer human now but, damn, I have such disdain for that man.

greenfrog said...

Perhaps Pearl Jam, there was an article about Eddie in Rolling Stone in 1997 that could be construed as negative but it was just saying that he was really driven, etc, had always been ambitious etc...


The article wasn't exactly negative, it just said that his image was very conscious and that he was a "master manipulator" which is what you have to be to be a rock star. You have to make an image of yourself and promote it.

This wasn't surprising to anybody who knows how hard it is to be successful in the arts, you have to really focus.

Maybe Nickelback. I too hate Nickelback, except for the song Rock Star which is kind of funny.

TC said...

Definitely Nickelback. I met Chad in 08 when Nickelback was probably at their height of popularity and he was very nice, funny, and yes self deprecating.

Not a huge fan of their music, but I do have a couple of their cds. Yes their music is repetitive but so are the Foo Fighters who have been critics darlings since day one. You won't get an deep meanings out of their lyrics, but they are perfect if you are out on a gravel bar with a lot of friends pounding beers in front of a bonfire.

JL said...

Just like how all the Parisian Jewish people have poured into NYC.

rednoir said...

Count, it seems like a large percentage of "American" rock was created by Canadians like Neil Young and Joni Mitchell to name a few. No, no need to thank us- anytime.

Count Jerkula said...

"Hope Neil Young will remember, Southern Man don't need him around any how." In this case "Southern Man" represents anyone lucky enough to live below the 49th parallel.

And those people all fled that snowy dump, to become successful and avoid paying your oppressive taxes. Unless they are looking to get into Moose Porn, no one is buying a bus ticket to Canuckistan with thoughts of becoming a star dancing through their heads.

Nic said...

@Count, except If you're Randy Quaid and you're running from the star whackers.

Seriously, Canada's immigration problem is that our passport is worth a lot. It gets you "free" health care and a pension at 65. And a boat ride/plane ride out of your country of origin to "home" (Canada) when the sh!t hits the fan. Side glance Lebanon.

Vancouver is actually referred to as a Chinese colony.

My observation is that France turns their nose up at Quebeckers. They don't like their accents or in their opinion, the bastardization use of the French language (whose origin is France).

Count Jerkula said...

Dont get me started on the Chinese. Stink bugs, bamboo, carp, people, every species out of China is invasive.

Wee S said...

Omg I can't stand Nickleback. For A-level drama, we had to create an original piece and OF COURSE we wrote about alcoholism, drug abuse, child abuse - you know, standard 17 year old drama topics- and 'how you remind me' was our opening song (not chosen by me and I just got ptsd writing out the song title ). God love them, but it's a no from me. Forever.

greenfrog said...

They weren't that bad, just overplayed, and mediocre so you got sick of them easily.

HouellebecqGurl said...

I know someone who worked with them about... 15 or so yrs ago. They thought the guys were great and Kroeger sent the dude hand signed & personalized birthday cards every year. I know he was still doing it at least 6 yrs ago, I haven't talked to that person since then.
The whole NB thing was always ludicrous. There has always been shitty people, much shittier than CK in the music biz as well as untalented fucks.
They were an easy target.

HouellebecqGurl said...

The Qbecks and some really ruralite types are the only tolerable Canadians. Or formerly known as Canadians but replaced with various "Asians."
It's worse than fucking New Zealand.

shakey said...

peawry you're right, Montreal is great and very cosmopolitan but live and work outside of the city and you'll be shocked at how provincial people's viewpoints are.

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